Akarua

Akarua's founding story begins not in wine but in the cold waters of Foveaux Strait. Sir Clifford Skeggs was born in Bluff in 1931 and apprenticed as a boatbuilder before entering the fishing industry in 1953, building what would become the Skeggs Group from a single boat into the largest privately owned inshore fishing fleet in New Zealand, with later interests in shipping, tourism, property, and a short stint in aviation through Pacifica Air. Alongside business Skeggs built a parallel public career, serving as Mayor of Dunedin for four consecutive terms from 1977 to 1989, the only person ever to do so, and was appointed Knight Bachelor in the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours for his service to the city. In 1995, with Central Otago's Pinot Noir reputation still in its earliest stages, Sir Clifford and Lady Marie Skeggs purchased a north-facing terrace on Cairnmuir Road in Bannockburn, an extension of the village above the Cromwell basin that had already attracted pioneer plantings from Felton Road, Carrick, and Mt Difficulty. Planting began the following year, in 1996, with the two grape varieties that would name the estate: Pinot Noir and Chardonnay. 'Akarua' is Maori for 'two vines', a direct reference to those founding varieties. Sir Clifford died in June 2025 at the age of 94, four years after agreeing to sell the estate.

• Sir Clifford Skeggs (19 March 1931 to 12 June 2025): Bluff-born apprentice boatbuilder turned founder and chairman of the Skeggs Group, New Zealand's largest privately owned inshore fishing operation in its era
• Public career: Mayor of Dunedin for four terms from 1977 to 1989, the only person to serve four terms in the role; chairman of Port Otago; Knight Bachelor in the 1987 Queen's Birthday Honours
• Bannockburn land purchased 1995; first vines planted 1996, both Pinot Noir and Chardonnay; name 'Akarua' means 'two vines' in Maori, a direct reference to those founding varieties
• Sir Clifford died June 2025 aged 94, four years after the Edmond de Rothschild Heritage acquisition was agreed

Akarua grew from one terrace into a multi-vineyard estate spanning approximately 110 hectares across the Cromwell basin, the heart of Central Otago Pinot Noir country. The Cairnmuir Road home block sits on a north-facing terrace in Bannockburn, planted to Pinot Noir and Chardonnay on alluvial soils that thin to schist bedrock and benefit from the basin's punishing diurnal range and continental climate, the only true continental wine climate in New Zealand. A second Bannockburn block, Felton Road Terraces, shares similar geology. Across the basin to the north, vineyards on the eastern slopes below the Pisa Range, branded '25 Steps' and 'Murrel de Bettencor', sit on sandy loam soils over deep gravels and contribute the lifted aromatic character and finer-boned fruit profile that Akarua blends into both the sparkling base wines and the lighter Pinot Noir cuvees. Further plantings at Bendigo, the sub-region with the largest area of vines in Central Otago, add the powerful, schist-driven Pinot Noir profile that contributes mid-palate density to the estate range. The combination of three of the basin's defining sub-regions, Bannockburn for ripeness and structure, Pisa for finesse, and Bendigo for power, allows Akarua to blend complex multi-site cuvees as well as bottle single-vineyard expressions, a flexibility that became increasingly important to the Cadence flagship.

• Approximately 110 hectares across six vineyards in three Central Otago sub-regions; Edmond de Rothschild acquired 34.5 hectares of the Bannockburn estate in 2022
• Bannockburn: Cairnmuir Road home block (north-facing terrace, alluvial soil over schist) and Felton Road Terraces; the ripeness and structural backbone of the estate Pinot Noirs
• Pisa: '25 Steps' and 'Murrel de Bettencor' on the eastern terraces below the Pisa Range; sandy loam over gravel, lifted aromatics, central to the sparkling base blend
• Bendigo: additional Pinot Noir plantings on the sub-region with the largest vine area in Central Otago; adds schist-driven power and depth

Akarua's Pinot Noir program is structured as a clearly tiered three-step range, an approach that mirrors the Burgundian village, premier cru, and grand cru logic without naming itself in those terms. Rua, named for the same Maori word for 'two' that gives the estate its name, is the entry point: a bright, fresh, early-drinking style sourced from estate fruit supplemented with purchased grapes where required, fermented in stainless and aged in older oak to keep the wine open and fruit-driven. It is the volume cuvee and has historically been Akarua's most-awarded wine on points-per-dollar, with the 2017 vintage winning Champion Wine of Show at the 2019 Sydney International Wine Competition. The estate Akarua Pinot Noir, labelled with Bannockburn on the front, steps up materially in both fruit selection and oak handling: drawn solely from the Bannockburn home block, hand-harvested, and aged for around eleven months in French oak barriques with closer to 30% new wood, producing a more concentrated, structured wine of black cherry, raspberry, and blackcurrant depth. At the top, Cadence is the flagship reserve, a barrel-selection Pinot Noir drawn from the most distinguished parcels of the Bannockburn estate in vintages that warrant the bottling. Cadence is produced in small volumes, sees the longest barrel maturation, and is built to reward five to ten years of cellaring. The full range positions Akarua as one of the few Central Otago producers offering credibility at every price tier from value to cellar-worthy reserve.

• Rua: entry-tier Pinot Noir from estate fruit plus purchased grapes; bright, early-drinking style; multiple trophies including Champion Wine of Show at the 2019 Sydney International Wine Competition for the 2017 vintage
• Akarua Bannockburn Pinot Noir: estate cuvee from the Bannockburn home block; hand-harvested, aged around 11 months in French oak with close to 30% new; black cherry, raspberry, blackcurrant depth
• Cadence: flagship reserve cuvee; barrel-selected from the estate's most distinguished Bannockburn parcels; produced only in vintages that warrant it; built for 5 to 10 years of cellaring
• A Rua Pinot Gris and an estate Chardonnay sit alongside the Pinot Noir range, with the Chardonnay drawn from the same Cairnmuir Road founding plantings

Alongside Quartz Reef in Bendigo, Akarua is one of the two producers most often cited as the reference for Central Otago methode traditionnelle, the region having emerged as a credible cool-climate sparkling source thanks to the same diurnal range and natural acidity that drives the still Pinot Noir. The sparkling portfolio comprises three core wines: the NV Brut, a Pinot Noir dominant blend with Chardonnay drawn from up to six vineyard sites across the basin; the Vintage Brut, made in declared years only; and the Brut Rose, where one Pinot Noir base wine is fermented on skins to produce a red component comprising approximately ten percent of the final blend. All three follow the full traditional method: whole-bunch pressing, separation of vineyard parcels through primary fermentation in a mix of older French oak barriques and stainless steel, tirage to bottle, secondary fermentation, and a minimum of eighteen months on lees in bottle before riddling, disgorgement, and a further three months minimum on cork before release. The result is a savoury, brioche-and-citrus style with persistent fine bead and the toasty autolytic character that long lees aging delivers. The Brut Rose has been a Decanter gold-medal winner; the entire range is regarded as among New Zealand's finest sparkling wines and helped establish that Central Otago could compete with Marlborough as a premium domestic sparkling source.

• Three-wine methode traditionnelle range: NV Brut, Vintage Brut (declared years only), and Brut Rose; alongside Quartz Reef, the reference Central Otago sparkling producer
• Pinot Noir dominant with Chardonnay; whole-bunch pressed, parcels kept separate, base wines fermented in a mix of older French oak and stainless steel before assemblage
• Minimum 18 months on lees in bottle after tirage, then riddling, disgorgement, and 3 more months minimum on cork before release; long autolysis is central to the house style
• Brut Rose includes approximately 10% red base wine from a skin-fermented Pinot Noir parcel; multiple Decanter gold medals across the sparkling range

In May 2022 Edmond de Rothschild Heritage, the lifestyle and wine division of the French banking dynasty's group, announced an agreement to acquire Akarua from the Skeggs family, subject to approval from New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office. The OIO gave the go-ahead in October 2022 and the transaction completed shortly thereafter. The acquisition transferred a fifty-two-hectare estate including thirty-four and a half hectares of established Bannockburn vines, the winery, and the Akarua brand to the French group, making Akarua its second New Zealand property after the Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc vineyard purchased in Marlborough roughly a decade earlier. The wider Edmond de Rothschild Heritage wine portfolio spans approximately five hundred hectares across nine estates on four continents, with flagship properties including Chateau Clarke and Chateau Malmaison in Bordeaux's Listrac-Medoc (originally purchased by Baron Edmond de Rothschild in 1973), Chateau des Laurets in Puisseguin Saint-Emilion, Champagne Barons de Rothschild (a family-wide Champagne house established in 2005), Macan in Rioja (a 2017 joint venture with Spain's Vega Sicilia), Flechas de los Andes in Argentina, Rupert and Rothschild in South Africa, and Rimapere in Marlborough. The strategic logic was explicit on the French side: the group described the Bannockburn site as a Pinot Noir terroir 'on a par with Burgundy' and announced plans to convert the entire fifty-two-hectare estate to certified organic production, which would mark Edmond de Rothschild Heritage's first organic estate anywhere in its portfolio. Andrew Keenleyside remained in place as chief winemaker through the transition, providing continuity of style as French ownership took effect.

• Sale announced May 2022, approved by New Zealand's Overseas Investment Office in October 2022 and closed shortly thereafter; total transaction covered 52 hectares including 34.5 hectares of Bannockburn vines, the winery, and the Akarua brand
• Akarua became Edmond de Rothschild Heritage's second New Zealand estate after the Rimapere Sauvignon Blanc vineyard in Marlborough (acquired roughly a decade earlier)
• Sister estates in the portfolio: Chateau Clarke (Listrac-Medoc, since 1973), Chateau des Laurets (Puisseguin Saint-Emilion), Champagne Barons de Rothschild (since 2005), Macan (Rioja, 2017 joint venture with Vega Sicilia), Flechas de los Andes (Argentina), Rupert and Rothschild (South Africa), Rimapere (Marlborough)
• Group announced plans to convert all 52 hectares to certified organic farming, which would be the first organic estate in the entire Edmond de Rothschild Heritage portfolio; Andrew Keenleyside continued as chief winemaker through the ownership change